It’s a good time to be a superhero archer with Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow, carving up the villains of Starling City in Arrow – airing now on Sky 1 – and Clint Barton, SHIELD’s super-marksman Hawkeye in the running for his own spin-off movie after a fan-favourite turn in Joss Whedon‘s Avengers Assemble.

We spoke to Arrow star Stephen Amell to talk comics and gauge his chances in a title bout with Jeremy Renner‘s Hawkeye…

Is there any good-natured competition between Green Arrow and Hawkeye?

SA: I actually met Jeremy [Renner] in Los Angeles. We had a mutual friend. If anybody wants to set up a live archery competition on television, I’m fully in. I work hard, so let’s do it. Anything for charity. I do have some learning to do, because he has a really high tech bow and I still use the bow that I used on the island. It’s tougher to shoot with, because the draw weight is only 15 pounds, so I need to get into shooting with compound bows and stuff like that.

What kind of pressure are you under to live up to the comics?

SA: I only felt pressure one time throughout this entire process, and that was the camera test/hair and make-up day when we were shooting the pilot. I had been there for a couple of weeks, and I arrived on set on this particular dayn and it seemed like there were a thousand cars there. I knew that everyone was there to work on the show, and if I didn’t do a good job, it wouldn’t go to series and nobody would have a job, so I felt under pressure.

How many scenes have you had with John Barrowman?

SA: Definitely more than one. I consider John to be a mentor at this point. He’s had really interesting advice, because he’s been a part of this world. He sent me well wishes for New York Comic Con on Twitter, which is very nice of him. He’s a really interesting guy, and it’s such a coup for us to have him on our show. I wish I could talk about what he plays, but I can’t.